WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Wall Street rose on Friday, pushing the S&P 500 into positive territory for 2016, as the Fed's tempered view on interest rates, a weakened dollar and rising oil prices whetted investors' risk appetite.

The Dow Jones industrial average extended gains for 2016, helped by a 2 per cent increase in Goldman Sachs.

Volumes were slightly higher than usual on account of "quadruple witching", the expiry of options on stocks and indexes as well as futures on indexes and stocks.

Crude oil rebounded to fresh 2016 highs on strong seasonal demand and hopes that major oil producers would reach a deal to freeze output. "There's been some nervousness taken out of the market by the Fed making their comments," said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager with Hodges Funds in Dallas. "All in all, I think it's setting up for a very good day."

At 9:44 a.m. ET (9:44 p.m Singapore time), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 68.66 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 17,550.15, the S&P 500 was up 5.92 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 2,046.51 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 9.83 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 4,784.82.

Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.08 per cent rise in the financials sector.

Bank of America and JPMorgan were up about 2.5 per cent after they announced share buyback programs. JPMorgan gave the biggest boost to the S&P 500.

With the Fed being cautious over rate hikes, investors will now keep a close eye on global economic and financial market conditions to gauge the impact of overseas weakness on U.S. economy and earnings growth.